The invention relates to a silencer for firearms, in particular for hand guns.
Silencers are known for firearms, in particular hand guns. In the case of firearms in which the gases issue from the muzzle of the barrel at supersonic velocity, use is made of so-called chamber silencers in which the powder gases are passed through successively disposed chambers which are formed by means of partitions in a silencer housing, the partitions having through openings for the gases to pass therethrough. In comparison, silencers for firearms in which the powder gases leave the firearm at a velocity in the sub-sonic range are generally provided with what are known as turbulence chambers.
Silencers of the above-discussed configuration are generally not an integral part of a weapon but are connected to a weapon, as a separate part, for use thereof in the appropriate fashion. It is known for silencers to be screwed on the barrel of weapons by means of a screwthread. It is also known for the silencer to be fitted on to the barrel and for the latter to be mounted on the casing of a weapon. The known silencers which can be fitted by being screwed on or by being pushed on are in the form of cylindrical bodies of larger diameter than the barrel muzzles, increased by the height of a front sight . The result of that is that an end face of the silencer covers the front sight and thus renders inoperative the aiming system which is disposed on the weapon and which comprises a front sight and a rear sight. In order to overcome that deficiency, it is known to provide auxiliary sighting devices which comprise a rear sight and a front sight disposed on the silencer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,418 discloses a silencer which can be fitted on to the barrel muzzle of a hand gun, a pistol, with a movable barrel, comprising a silencer housing of a cylindrical configuration and a holding device connected to the silencer housing for connecting the silencer to the pistol. The holding device comprises a limb portion which is connected to the silencer housing at one end and which at its free end carries two arms, between which the pistol casing is received. The limb portion carries a guide pin which extends parallel to the axis of the barrel and which, when the silencer is fitted on to the gun, that is to say the muzzle of the barrel is accommodated in a corresponding aperture in the silencer, extends into a bore which opens out at an end face of the pistol casing. The arms extend from the limb portion to the trigger safety guard and are provided at that end with bores which extend in alignment with a bore in the trigger safety guard. The bores extend transversely with respect to the axis of the barrel and receive a safety pin which secures the arms to the safety guard. The known silencer suffers from the disadvantage that the cylindrical silencer housing with the trajectory for the projectile extending therein in concentric relationship with the axis of the silencer housing projects with an end thereof beyond the front sight disposed on the pistol casing so that the silencer has to be provided with an auxiliary aiming device. Auxiliary aiming devices disposed on a silencer involve the disadvantage that their sighting line is not in the same precise position relative to the axis of the barrel as the sighting line which is formed by the rear sight and the front sight disposed on the body of the pistol. Silencers of that known kind are subjected in use to thermal loadings which result in constant deformation of the silencer housing and thus contribute to further worsening the position of the sighting line.
In order to achieve a satisfactory silencer effect, silencers are to be designed with cylindrical silencer housings which are relatively long in relation to the length of the pistol body, but at least as long as the spacing of the front sight and the rear sight on the pistol body, so that it is possible to maintain a spacing of substantially the same length between the front sight and the rear sight of the auxiliary aiming device. As a result, a pistol provided with a silencer of that kind suffers from a change in the position of its center of gravity, which is important from the point of view of comfort and convenience of use of the pistol; furthermore, when firing a shot with the known design configuration, due to the long lever arm between the muzzle of the barrel and the guide pin, high moments are produced, which are not adequately carried by the guide pin and the safety pin so that the mounting of the silencer on the pistol does not comply with the requirement in respect of rigidity.